 God's beauty is all around us and my goal as an artist is to capture and interpret that beauty on canvas and to take you the viewer along with me on this painting journey. Hello and welcome to paintings journeys. My name is Kitty Lynn Klisch and we are going to be doing a wonderful still life today, a Christmas still life. But first of all I want to talk about the last painting that I did on our last episode. This is Home for the Holidays and if you remember on the last episode it wasn't nearly done but I had explained I was going to do it out of my imagination and my memory and so here it is and it gives me the feeling that I have just pulled in the driveway. It's been a long snowy drive and hours to get there but I finally have arrived home and the lights are on and the Christmas tree is lit it's glittering on the snow with the headlights of my car and I know they're all in there and they're waiting for me. Isn't that a wonderful feeling, a wonderful thought? It is, it truly is. I like I was saying I did this totally from my imagination and memory of years ago when I used to go home for the holidays. So without further ado you're watching painting journeys and my my name is Kitty Lynn Klisch and we better get started with what we're going to do today. We are going to paint a poinsettia and later on I'm going to tell you the legend of the poinsettia. I think you'll find it very interesting. Anyway so this is my setup. You never get to see me work from life and I thought what better what better time than the holidays to see an actual live poinsettia plant and see me how I'm going to handle that. Now it really I must tell you getting down to the technical part of it. I must tell you that it really the canvas really should be standing up because as I measure it it is oh just as wide as it is tall my my my composition here that I'm going to be painting. So I'm going to have to do a little shortening or a little lengthening or something to make the adjustments to make it work on a canvas that is shaped like this. And the reason I always use this size in shaped canvases because or most always is because it fits the screen so that you can get a better picture and I want you to be able to see what I'm doing. Okay here we go. So first of all I think I'm just going to mass in where I see some color and that is going to be right over in this corner here. Now I'm not doing much I'm just kind of like I want to just kind of get a little placement. I wish I would have put some of my stuff out here. Okay and then this this is going to be down in there that's that plant. And then this big plant is going to be coming up in here and around there and then there'll be a big flower right in here and it's going to just go right off. I don't really know how this is going to work. This is going to be one of those deals where you know it might work it might not and if it doesn't then I have to take it home and readjust it and bring it back and show it to you next time and show you what I did to change it. But I'm going to make this poinsettia looking like it's in a very low squat looking pot in order for it to look like it is sitting on this table nicely. Back over here I have some some a little bit of evergreen it's going back off and so that's going to be back there and then of course we have lots of evergreen down in here and I'm just kind of scribbling this in. I wish that you could have seen me last week I was at a gallery and I was doing a portrait of Santa Santa Claus as he was waving out the window at all the children and that was so neat to see those those little little ones how excited they got and how excited they got to see me actually painting Santa's portrait. I was dressed all in red and I had a white collar on and so they all called me Mrs. Santa of which was kind of a hood I got a big kick out of that. So anyway now we're going to just make this like a instead of a tall vase as I said we're going to just kind of make that sit down in there like it's a little shorter squatter type thing okay and we do have I see a nice big green leaf coming out over in here and you see I'm just kind of sketching it in just feeling my way getting my bearings I do have a little pine cone in here and I want to be sure and show him and and another little pine cone back in here and right there and then this is all pretty filled with green leaves as I'm looking at it coming down okay now I think that's going to cover the the the canvas pretty good I think that's going to be a nice composition I have all mostly my flowers in here and with lots of greenery and there'll be more greenery coming there's a flower right here that is hidden and that there will have a green leaf over it actually and then I'll have all these bright red ones going right off the canvas and right off over here so what's going to balance that is this red poinsettia right here the one flower in the corner right here so that will balance the weight of this coming off over here yeah I think this is going to work I think I'm going to like it a lot now okay and then that's greenery I want to bring this greenery turn it a little bit so that it looks like it's coming back in okay and the reason for that is because you don't want things that are pointing out of the canvas you want the things to to flow around and keep the eye in the canvas you don't want things pointing out so right now we'll have heavy flowers will come down with the leaves then the this greenery down here will catch her eye it'll bring us over here the flower will draw us up and that will pull us back into the the greenery this behind of which is pointing back towards the flower this is going to be my focal area and I think I better start painting so what do you think huh nothing to it that just just do it that's what works all right I think I'm going to I here in the studio I have a beautiful soft grayed yellow grayed color behind the poinsettia and I think that's what I'm going to what I see I think is what I'm going to put back there I think that would be lovely it's soft it's it's really a pretty color you know kind of a I don't know what color that would be but it's very pretty it is kind of a grayed green and I I have a very limited palette today I have mostly reds a couple of greens a blue and a pains gray a couple different yellows whoops my yellow is slipping and lots of white of course I want to make the background quite light on this I usually tend to be the type of painter that goes more towards the dark and dramatic and I don't want to I don't want this to be too too terribly dark today want it to be in fact I'm going to actually lighten up the wall a little bit what I'm seeing there for the background I I'll probably go back in and change it because I I probably won't like it we'll give it a try you never know unless you try right right okay all right this is not that great a-looking color kids but maybe a little bit of blue in it there we go all of us looking better all right okay now we're going to go ahead and we're just going to kind of splash this around on the back listen to me I sound like I'm painting in watercolor I'm going to splash it around this stuff is like whipped cream it's not like watercolor in fact it's even stiffer than whipped cream I would say this is like butter there we go find the magic brush is there such a thing I don't think so I think the magic comes in the prayer you say before you start the painting I know I always say a little prayer best thing to do much better chance of it working oh I think that matches pretty good what do you think see here I don't know if you noticed or not but I do have new glasses on and I hope everybody likes them I'm talked to one of my friends one of my artist friends and he said kitty whatever you do don't wear those on your show and I thought I think I'll leave it up to the viewers I like them I hope you do too enough of that personal stuff that's working working it put some down and around in here we're gonna be painting over that but I just want to have just a little bit in there just just in case back in there you're probably thinking whatever in the world is she doing how is she gonna fix that one pull that one out it'll be okay all righty let's see here now I think we will scrub in the pot and my pot is actually a really dark green and my table is kind of a brighter green maybe I will use some of that well put a little bit of that table on there I have just a nice you can't see it from the camera but I can see it from where I'm standing I have this really nice bright green right in there where that table is coming very bright and pretty of which is going to give us a little bit of depth yeah okay and then we'll have a little bit down here on the corner right here in the foreground and we'll have it go like that and then we'll go into a darker green and that'll come down right in here and then we're gonna have the wall behind it and that's just a little bit bluer down below because it's in a little bit of shadow maybe we'll make that a little bit darker there we go okay corner there now I think I like that red in that green for the vase I don't or for the pot maybe like a little bit of the background in there and the pot is pretty hidden there I like that I'm gonna be coming back over this with leaves and things like that but that's pretty good put a little blue in there where the where the dark is there we go shape that a little bit underneath here now you see I have this greenery that's going to be popping up over that so that's why I don't have to worry too much about what this looks like here I do want a little bit of a light edge to strike right there I'm planning I'm planning ahead for finish I shouldn't be probably be doing that just yet but I am because I like to jump all over the place this is a little darker up in here because we have the green there we go now we'll just take a little bit of red and put right in here there we go that gives it a little bit of roundness there's a cute little pot and now the leaves that are coming down you see here I better go to the what's underneath back in here it's dark on the tabletop that is dark this appears quite light in the background because the light is coming from back kind of back lit back there let's hit that again now we've got this green tabletop right in here it's even a little bit darker right under here see we have to have what is underneath the things that we're going to put on top we have to sort of have them in there suggested otherwise it's not going to the light of the objects that we're going to put on top are not going to show up so we have to have those dark shadows down there before I'm seeing lots of there's gonna be lots of greenery and even under here underneath my poinsettia is going to be quite dark dark under here okay now now we'll start putting on some nice dark leaves point on the poinsettia plant a lot of the of the leaves are rather blue green rather than rather than a light green or a yellow green there's a leaf now we have one over here that is a little bit brighter and it's caught in the light a little bit more so it's going to be a little bit more like this and then it's going to be darker again we have a nice big leaf coming right in here and this side of it is lighter and then this side is in the shadow and is quite dark lighten that up just a wee bit here to make that pop just a little bit more for you I want this to pop just a little bit more to this leaf against that one we've got to be able to see that should be dark against light and light against dark I'm going to come back in here and darken that just a wee bit so that you can see that leaf better there we go all right that's much better mm-hmm this one here and he's coming out of here and there's red around him now all right I think when you're working with the red and the green it can be quite difficult because they're both colors that want to pick up each other and so it's quite easy to drag red into your green and make mud because the one is the complement of the other now this leaf here this coming out right here okay it's where it's in the light it's quite bright but then when it goes back up in not underneath here it's dark you see that and just that little tip is in the light and we'll make that little tip show up even more there we go maybe we'll do a little bit of light right here and that will lift him up mm-hmm okay and let me see here we've got kind of a greenish looking leaf you can't make all your leaves the same and you don't want to make them all going the same way so here's a darker leaf that is coming right from back here and he's going up this way in fact we don't even see all of him because on top of him there's a nice big leaf that is quite bright where the light is back lit and the light so the light is behind it and it's very light in fact I'm gonna want I want to lighten that just a wee bit more even because we can really see through here a little more careful now and then on the bottom side it's quite dark because he's sort of folded up he's good sized point-setting leaves are good size what's so interesting about them is that it's the point-setting leaf that actually turns into the flower okay now I think we've got some pretty good leaves established there's another one back in here just a little guy he's coming from underneath those flowers there's some very dark back in here right up in there very dark now I think we'll start putting those flowers on let's see here let's get a little background right in here whoops not the right color where's that dirty brush let's see here I think I want that's what I want in there and it's lighter and brighter because it is back lit that's that light area that I'm seeing behind want to tell you the legend of the point-setting plant oh it got its name and I can't pronounce it in Spanish it's a legend from that took its roots in Mexico and as the legend goes a all of the villages the villagers would on Christmas Eve would bring a little gift to the baby Jesus and lay it you know in the creche or nativity scene however you're used to hearing it and the bring various things being poor peasants they usually didn't have much but they would bring what they had and they would leave it at the manger for the Christ child and there was one young boy who had he was so poor he had nothing and the closer he got to the church you know the more upset he became and he finally dropped down in the snow and he prayed to God to give him something to bring him a gift for the Christ child and there in the snow immediately a brilliant red flower appeared and the it was a miracle and the boy picked it up he knew that was the answer to his prayer he picked it up and took it into the church and I don't know how to say flower in Spanish but it would became the flower of the night and the flower de noche or noche however you say it and so that is the legend of the poinsettia and I think it's a beautiful legend there's many legends out there at Christmas time but I think that one is particularly beautiful and so every year no matter when whether it's on the show on painting journeys or in my studio or for a client a commission piece I always paint it poinsettia we have to have poinsettias and they're very important flowers to me and they come out here and I think what I'm just going to do here is block this in and then I'm going to pull out flowers flower petals I will do better than if I do that rather than painting them one at a time I don't like to do that it gets too picky and too too busy so we're just blocking this all in now and hidden back underneath here is a poinsettia that has flower that has leaves on top of it see when I do this you really get a chance to enjoy the the color and you get a better chance of what's going to see what what is actually going on rather than watching the development of one petal after another that's not good I get done with this it will look like poinsettias you will probably have to wipe out some of the centers but that's okay starting to look poinsettia I need some darks in here going to come with my blue and my paint is gray and I'm going to come in here and separate whoops I didn't like that paint is gray I just keep it with the blue separate some of these areas here a little bit to break them up and show the the shadows and this here I know right now I'm going to bring a nice big bright petal right here I can't resist I see that spot and it tells me that's what I want right there okay now we'll put a little bit of the dark back behind in here and in here over in here we're gonna be picking flowers out flower petals out from there but where this is this is giving us the impression of a very extremely impressionistic application of poinsettias I'm gonna put more green leaves in here over here we have that big green leaf we need another one where's my green brush here it is now remembering what I said about the light against the dark okay this one here if he's going to be there he's going to have to be darker so that he can be behind the other two this one and this one of which means that I have to go back over and catch the edge of this and make a new a new edge on that petal same way on the top so that he is on top of the one that is down underneath and that's how you get it to look like some things in back and some things in front here I'm kind of liking the shape of this I don't know that I want to add these there I think I'll just come in and with a background with the background in there and I kind of like that little separation there and then we can come back down and make this just a little bit softer so that it looks like it's a little further back in there there we go I like that all right now let's get some of that greenery on there now I'm just gonna kind of scumble that in there again and I'm gonna have to come back with my background behind there I don't have enough on so we'll just come into this with the background and that'll create a little shadow and that'll be lovely that's okay too you know that's a marvelous thing about painting and oils because you know if you if you want to make a little have a little color echoed in the background some place or make it look like there could be a little shadow there it's perfectly okay you know I mean who's to say you're the artist do what you want that's what you need to do is what you want to do there okay now when I come in there and I put that other thing on the little business that is is there that's gonna be quite nice now I need me see here don't get too confident kitty all right what color is that tablecloth over there it's the dark green so underneath here we're gonna need that dark green because that's where the tablecloth is peeking through at us mm-hmm came through let me go back to that piece of greenery there that's not dark enough is it we have to put the dark in before we can put the light on now this is this looks nice because it's a different color green see we're introducing a different color on there and that's that's important I want that to curve a little bit remember I talked about it curving okay just just a little bit just a little suggestion of it we'll let it go off over here and then we'll pull it back in there okay nothing is nothing is too strong at this point just it's more of a suggested feeling more of interpretation of of you know how you want it to look I'm not I barely glance at my subject because I have something going in my mind that as the artist I see and that's what I want to portray not a photograph of what is in front of me because I don't think that's interesting and it not only that but it's not alive my imagination my thought process that's alive that's living this is all inanimate I have to it's like putty can take it and mold it and make it how I want it to be okay now for a nice where's that red brush hmm what do I do with the red brush I get it dirty I'll bet I did darn it oh well we'll make another red brush okay now we right in here we have a point set up is it point set up or point set up some people say the one some others some say the other love that bright red don't you a little bit of dark I have just enough green on the canvas that I don't have to gray underneath here that I don't have to gray my red because as I'm adding the red to it it's graying itself because of the green underneath it of which is quite nice I don't want no I don't I want to make sure that that one does not be pointing it is not pointing out of the canvas don't you point out of the canvas your little stinker there you go okay now on the inside I'm gonna take my trusty wipeout tool well there's my red brush I just found it I had my finger underneath me underneath my palette well that was a good place for it okay now we're gonna put a little green dark green in there the pedals are and we're going to put some lighter green and brighter and he has his little his little yellow things little brackets I think that's what they're called brackets I'm so terrible with names of things anyway but he has a few of these in there okay that doesn't look too bad now he's got a couple of nice deep leaves that are coming out I have to admit and tell you the truth he is a fake he's the only fake point set he up here so we mustn't make him give him too much credit because he is made out of silk instead of the real stuff and then we'll put another little leaf back over in here now then underneath here we have all this dark stuff that is underneath the see we'll put another leaf right back here that should be dark instead of light as soon as I did it I knew it was wrong see so I just paint over it you don't have to lament just fix it nothing to it come back over this edge lighten it up and that puts it behind there we go okay now then we time is passing so quickly and I'm not nearly as far along as I had wanted to be want to make sure that I have time to show you how I and we're gonna pull those flowers out because the next time we meet it's no longer going to be Christmas time and you're probably not gonna really care but that's okay I'll show you anyway there we go alright and so we have some little things coming off of here and now we're gonna get a little bit lighter and working fast and hard now and we do have that little pine cone to that we want to get in there you see here I think he was sitting oh I think we'll put him right about there where's that wipe out tool there it is wipe this out right here and we'll put that little pine cone right there alrighty he is a brownish color well we're down to 10 minutes let's see what happens in 10 minutes okay let's see if we can go to town and make some pull some magic together here okay now on the little pine cone he does have some little oops he's not bright enough come on little fella well I don't know what that looks like I don't think it looks like a pine cone but that's something I can fix next time he doesn't look like a pine cone too much he looks like a some kind of a strange fall flower that got dropped in there we'll just come in here and make him a little bit less distinguishable all right okay now I want to make some petals on that point set up point set yeah gonna have one coming right here I'm gonna have another one coming right in here this is the fun part have some over here remember I told you this is where my focal area is going to be this is where the thickest paint is now the paint right now is so thick on here that it will take a year to dry isn't that cool so next year at this time I'll be able to varnish and paint this and varnish and frame this painting and it will be finally ready isn't that something but red is the slowest drying color that there is and so that's that's why it'll take that long because I'm really putting it on luscious and thick I mean is yummy just absolutely yummy that's the way we like it little petals here should be a little darker right over here because this is a little behind there we go and that's what that should be a little bit darker okay I think we'll put a little bright on this guy here kind of like so that we can equal even it out a little bit you make it a little more equal okay and then we're going to I want some of this to be oh goodness now we're down to five minutes boy kids I don't know they really work me here in the station that one to be just a little bit like it's like it's turning there this year we need this to be coming out a little bit more okay now right up in here we need to put some of the brackets we're doing that pretty heavily because that is the the focal area yeah I can you know what I don't like that table stopping right there do you I don't let's just let's just take that table on off right over here let's just take that on off yeah I don't like that there that looks better and let's just soften this in a little bit and back in here make a little shadow make it not be so stiff there we go yeah color back in here a little color on there and then we'll make this a little bit darker right here it's a little darker right in there and a little darker down in here and then we'll come with our lighter brush and we'll come back and do some of these little light guys here to kind of poof it up a little bit there we go loose and soft loosey-goosey soft but very much in season and as you're out choosing your your poinsettia for the your Christmas decorations don't forget the legend pick out a pretty one for the Christ child like that turn right there I got to change that there we go you know what I could just keep fussing and fussing and fussing with this and sometimes if you fuss too much it doesn't make it any better so I have a couple minutes left here I'm going to come in here and put a little green and separate that a little bit maybe I'll put a little green up in there there we go and I'll probably be signing my name over here somewhere in red and doesn't look too much like this but what the heck I like it and I hope you like it too once again this is Kitty Linclish with Painting Journeys and our journey today has been across the blank canvas bringing poinsettias a still life of poinsettias to life so I I wish you all a wonderful wonderful holiday season and I'll catch you next time bye bye for now